Week 25 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Feeding is Turning into Fixing Them, Too.

A few months back, one of my neighbors asked me about getting her pup neutered. I mentioned Richard Fimbres told me about a free spay and neutering clinic coming up in February and I’d get her more information as soon as it was available.

In the first week of February I learned that there would be a free spay and neuter clinic at the Quincie Douglas Center at 36^th Street and Kino on the 16^th. My neighbor called, stood in line starting at 7:30 am and by the end of the day, her dog was good to go. The next Sunday she told me how happy she was with the process and how much money she saved.

The following Sunday, Roberto on Miles and Martin told me his daughter—who recently moved next door to his home—was having trouble with a number of feral cats because she was allergic. I offered to help and gave him my two traps. He has called me three times since then. Two already had their ear clipped and the third one will be fixed pet medical assistance. When it comes to cats, I have the traps and the cats are fixed for free. All you have to do is set the traps, entice the cats with a little tuna and then call me when the trap is occupied.

A couple of years ago Best Friends helped me catch and fix more than 15 cats in two days. That was a bit stressful so I am opting to fix a couple of cats each week. It takes longer but we will get them all.

So, talk to me on Sunday or just give me a call if you need to spay or neuter some feral cats or your family dog.

Collecting donations for PACC in the sunis just so muchmore fun.

Sunday marked the end of near freezing temperatures so everybody greeted me with a smile.

We collected four fluffy bath towels and 16.8 lbs. of pet food. The money amounted to $51.14 in cash and one check.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 24 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,
                    Happy Meeting, Indeed

Kristen Auerbach, Executive Director, Pima Animal

Care Center (left), Mayor Jonathan Rothschild,

Field Sergeant Bennett Simonsen, PACC and

Peter Norback.

The last meeting I had with Mayor Rothschild was July 23, 2012. That, too, was a happy meeting for One Can A Week, so I’m seeing a trend here.

The Mayor gave us a lot of his time and energy and opened the meeting with, “So what do you want from me?” The paper holding my agenda was turned over and we cut to the chase. At the end of some discussion we decided that Mayor Rothschild and Kristen Auerbach will select a few schools and a few corporations to initiate a pilot program for our “One Cent for One Minute of Community Service” fund raising idea.

After the meeting, I realized that I have been concentrating solely on fund-raising for PACC, I forgot about the school kids who may not have any money at all. That gave rise to the idea of “Teach One Minute for One Minute of Community Service.” As Burl, my friend and neighbor said when we talked Sunday, “That’s great because everybody has something.”

Kids teaching their classmates how to play video games, or dribble or skate or play an instrument, or math or science or anything where they are gaining skill and confidence will definitely build more empathy and a stronger community.
                          ___________________________________________________

Our Donations Make a Little Noise

PACC Facebook Post

“Peter Norbeck (sic) drops off a monetary donation to the shelter EVERY Monday. He also brings in other items like food.

“Since September he has donated a total of $1,435.36!!

“We just wanted to share a "THANK YOU" to Peter and all of you who donate your time, goods, or money to the shelter pets! We couldn't do it without you. Every donation, large or small, makes a difference!” 

When I dropped off our donation at PACC Monday, the associate said she was asked to take my photo for a Facebook post and would I mind? Of course, anything for PACC. Then she stood up and in a loud voice, asked the other associates at the counter for a camera. I had to donated that, too.

It was a nice surprise and perked up the rest of the day. Some hours later I found the post on their Facebook page and got a screen grab. Now you can see what your donations are generating … besides food for some hungry critters.

PS. There were more than a score of positive comments. Go check it out.

                          ____________________________________________________
    

Made a mistake and gave Haley and Cody a Bully Stick each just before I set up the photo shoot so no one was available for puppy window-dressing.

This week we donated 13.3 lbs. of pet food and $64.65 in cash and two checks.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 23 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Sundays are Becoming and Exercise in Exercise ... and That's a Good Thing

The cat food cans, stacked 20 high on the right, was the first indication that we collected a whole lot of pet food Sunday. Those cans will feed 20 cats for one day. Then there were cold weather garments, including an aviation jacket and booties for a Cody-sized dog. Lastly, there was enough cash to buy one 52 lb. bag of Purina Dog Chow “with real chicken” for $21.98.

All that pet food weighed 92.3 lbs. In addition, we donated $27.76 in cash and one check.

Haley was disappointed the she could not get up on the table for the photo although she tried a number of runs up the plank. Cody saw the futility from the start and just sat there on the right.

Spoiler Alert

Encouraged by your consistent and generous donations to PACC every Sunday, folks are beginning to pay attention to how we’re building our Rescued Critters Food Drive. Next week you will read about a meeting schedule for today, February 12^th in the Mayor’s office.

In attendance will be Mayor Rothschild, of course, and Executive Director, Kristen Auerbach, and Field Sergeant Bennett Simonsen of the Pima Animal Care Center.

The agenda will focus on a program called “One Cent for One Minute of Community Service.” a kid donation program that mirrors how business executives support their favorite charities. In this age of parity, it is never too early to teach kids to emulate community-minded business leaders who have a very strong sense of service.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 22 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Rainy Days and Sundays Always Lift Me Up

Third Truck Load

Rainy days are a time for reflection for me. Everything is calm. The trees, the streets and the air are being gently scrubbed and a misty face is probably the best feeling in the world.

Now to Sundays which are my special workday where I only do things that make me smile. For nearly a decade now I have been feeding hungry folks and pets in need. I don’t know about you, but in this land of everything, I haven’t missed a meal in my life. But there have been plenty of times where there was little to no money in my pocket. Mostly in my New York City days as an author. (They talk about starving authors but I wasn’t one of them.)

Fortunately, what I did have an abundance of was clever so I could always think of a way to find something nourishing to eat for me and my brother. Lots of folks don’t have that gift or talent or chutzpa ... whatever you want to call it, and they go hungry. 

When President Obama asked us all to get involved in community service, I was moved to help people and pets find food because that’s one thing I do best. There is another best thing and that is I don’t mind stepping outside my introverted writer personality to ask folks to help folks. Of course, it’s uncomfortable for a while, but hunger hurts more.

So, when it rained on my Sunday, it couldn’t have been a happier day for me. And, too, lots of folks were home trying to stay dry.

We donated 170 lbs. of dog and cat food and $16.30 in checks and cash to PACC. The three 52 lb. bags of Purina Chow cost $74.94 at Walmart or $24.98 each. Therefore, we collected a total of $91.24 in cash and checks which made for a very good rainy Sunday.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 21 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Highly Motivating Results

This past Sunday was so pleasant, many folks went out to play. And believe it or not, they forgot to leave their donation on the porch.

As soon as I finished my rounds, I tallied everything. Not bad but I always want to do better.

After dinner tonight, I updated the quarterly report and “not bad” turned into holly cow. We’ve accomplished 53% of our goal and we are still 5 weeks away from our half way point or 26 weeks. That means we are doing extremely well and we are taking it easy, too. So, I’m going to follow your lead and just smile and go with the flow.

Haley gets it, too.

When taking the donation photo Sunday, Haley just relaxed, not sniffing one cat food can. I thought it a bit unusual but her calm helped me set up and shoot quickly. Now I get that she gets we’re doing just great.

This week we donated 14.6 lbs. of pet food, a lead, some treats and a harness from the Pug Store. The cash amounted to $41.05.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 20 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Just Need One Rebecca Lipson

Rebecca Lipson at the Miles School displaying the silver
plate the Community Food Bank presented to all us One
Can A Week folks for collecting so much food.

After some local and national publicity in the early days of One Can A Week, Rebecca Lipson, a teacher at the Miles School contacted me. She wanted to get all the students involved in donating food and some money to the food bank.

Rebecca’s program grew quickly and over a 6- year-period, Miles donated tons and tons of food. I know because I delivered every pound to the food bank.

Although Rebecca moved on to the U of A after a couple of years, her fellow teachers stepped up and kept the program going. Her energy and her spirit just lived on at Miles.

After some local and national publicity in the early days of One Can A Week, Rebecca Lipson, a teacher at the Miles School contacted me. She wanted to get all the students involved in donating food and some money to the food bank.

Rebecca’s program grew quickly and over a 6- year-period, Miles donated tons and tons of food. I know because I delivered every pound to the food bank.

Although Rebecca moved on to the U of A after a couple of years, her fellow teachers stepped up and kept the program going. Her energy and her spirit just lived on at Miles.

Rebecca jumped into my thoughts lately because I have a new idea involving kids, schools and community service. I’ve been asking folks if they could help me get an introduction to a teacher or two and I even went back to Miles to set up a meeting but they were too busy to call me back.

Okay, so here’s the idea in a nutshell.

One cent for one minute of community service.

Okay, so it’s a really big nutshell.

Below you are going to find all the details about the concept but for right now, I would like to mention a few things that will help you eliminate some societal issues.

1. We monetize the high school diploma and the college degree, why not community service.
2. Nearly all top corporate executives perform community service by writing checks, mostly. These folks are held in high esteem for doing so.
3. Corporations, nonprofits and universities require community service involvement on their applications.
4. Most community service is not verifiable.
5. Few community service programs encourage kids to think about community service every week. One Can A Week did and now Rescued Critters Food Drive will.
6.  Community service makes better kids, teens, adults, seniors and businesses.
7. We are in the age of parity so treating everyone equally—e.g., kids and executives—is required.

While keeping all this in mind, here is the One Cent for One Minute of Community Service process.

Kids donate some change weekly in school and they earn one minute of community service for each penny gifted. The teacher keeps a record of each donation and then issues a community service certificate every quarter or semester for each participating student. Then all the money is donated to PACC each week.

At the same time, corporations, universities and nonprofits associated with PACC begin to publicize their interest in the Rescued Critters Food Drive certificate. This step monetizes the community service which motivates the kids to donate consistently, year after year. Their future job searches will be made easier because they will have sought-after and verifiable community service credentials.

Please review the materials below and if someone comes to mind whom you think might be interested, please forward this email to him or her. Then let’s see what happens. 

Saving Puppies and Kittens and Trees, too

This envelope stuck in my neighbor Kim's door confused me at first.
How am I going to help her save trees if I leave her a Thank You Card?
She is saving trees, I'm killing hem. Then it hit me. I can use the same
envelope to thank her ... and I did.

Too many new things for Haley

Confronted with empty pill bottles and a lead without a hook, Haley wasn’t sure what to do. So, she switched off her personality.

This week we donated 9.2 lbs. of pet food and $56.79 in cash. Many folks weren’t home this Sunday but we still collected a lot for PACC.

See you Sunday,

Peter

19th Week - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Thanks to KGUN 9 News for the Coverage

Today, John, the videographer from KGUN 9 News met me in the PACC parking lot at noon to film our food and cash donation. We talked for a minute or two and then moved on to actually making the delivery. Then he told me the news story would be on the 6 pm newscast. I thanked him warmly for his time and the opportunity to tell our story. What I didn’t realize was how quick the segment would be. Anyway, at least Rescued Critters Food Drive still has 14.5 minutes of fame to go.

Second Rescued Critters Truck Load

Since the truck and the food were in the alley, so was Peach, the not so feral tom cat. He is most aggressive when it comes to food, always being first in line no matter how many of his feline friends he has to push out of the way. Peach likes it best when it’s just food and solitude.

As we learned last week, PACC has two approaches to feeding pets. For those who need assistance with feeding their pets, PACC provides less expensive commercial brands like Purina Dog Chow. The idea here is to keep the pets with their owners instead of having them give their dog or cat up because they simply can’t afford to feed them anymore. Pets remaining in their homes is the goal here. Also, home based pets seem to eat without much coaxing.

Rescued pets get the more expensive foods because they are stressed out and have a tendency to not eat well. So nutrient packed foods are provided to shelter pets. That’s where the $0.90 cents per pound comes in and why they need donations to feed the 17,000 plus a year shelter pets.

PACC’s food assistance program provides about 6,000 lbs. a year to help folks keep their pets in their homes. As I said, this solution is so much better than turning over a loved family pet to the shelter. That’s why, when I saw the Purina food on sale for about $0.48 cents per pound, I scooped up six 52 lb. bags in the past two weeks. As the year progresses, maybe we can be responsible for supplying PACC’s food assistance program. I like providing targeted support to PACC and I am sure you do, too.

This week we donated, a blanket, a retractable lead and a regular lead, in addition to 121.4 pounds of dog and cat food.  The cash donation amounted to $36.15

See you Sunday,

Peter